Rating: 
Summary: Lovesey triumphs again
Review: Another really enjoyable outing with the redoubtable Peter Diamond.
Keep them coming!
Rating:
Summary: Fast-moving and clever whodunnit
Review: Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is nominally the star of this murder yarn, but it's the clever plot and the crisscrossing story lines that keep the reader engrossed. Briefly, we have an attractive psychologist, who happens to be a police profiler, strangled while at a heavily populated public beach. It turns out she was profiling a murderer, dubbed the "Mariner," who taunts authorities by announcing his victims in advance and leaving about passages from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." So Diamond and his colleagues are involved in unraveling two murders simultaneously. The novel moves right along to an exciting conclusion and should keep the reader guessing until the last few pages. The writing is literate and unobtrusive.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-moving and clever whodunnit
Review: Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is nominally the star of this murder yarn, but it's the clever plot and the crisscrossing story lines that keep the reader engrossed. Briefly, we have an attractive psychologist, who happens to be a police profiler, strangled while at a heavily populated public beach. It turns out she was profiling a murderer, dubbed the "Mariner," who taunts authorities by announcing his victims in advance and leaving about passages from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." So Diamond and his colleagues are involved in unraveling two murders simultaneously. The novel moves right along to an exciting conclusion and should keep the reader guessing until the last few pages. The writing is literate and unobtrusive.
Rating:
Summary: The Serial Killer Blues
Review: I've long fondled Lovesey's books at the library, but this eighth in his Peter Diamond series is the first I've actually read. It starts with a family on an outing to the beach near Sussex. The all-too-typical day on the beach suddenly becomes creepy when the couple's young daughter goes missing. At the end of a frantic search, a more troubling discovery is madeóthe body of a dead woman. It's a nice little trick to draw the reader in, using one situation as the warm up to the main course.
The dead woman is soon determined to have been strangled while lying on the beach in plain view. This is a sort of reversal of the traditional locked-room mystery, with the added complications of the tide having washed away all forensic evidence, and no clue as to the victim's identity. Tough, cigarillo-smoking D.I. Hen Mallin is assigned to the case, and the difficulties just keep on multiplying even once the victim is identified as a psychologist from Bath who consulted with the police as a criminal profiler. The Bath connection brings with it the involvement of the acerbic Peter Diamond, and the two strong personalities must figure out a way to work with each other.
When they discover that the woman had been working on a hush-hush serial killer case, Diamond subtlety hijacks that case as well. This strand of the book gets a little baroque, as the serial killer invokes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in a quest to kill Britain's leading film director, a professional golf phenom, and a libidinous ex-pop star turned industrialist. Whether this fantastical case is related to the profiler's death is a key question, and one that isn't answered until the climax.
The investigation is fairly interesting, as encrypted files on the psychologist's computer are decoded, two key witnesses to the beach affair go missing, and all manner of complications are strewn in Diamond and Hen's path. And while this procedural stuff is good, the larger matter of the serial killer left me rather cold. The serial killer is an overused character in fiction, and I tend to find plots revolving around them rather boring. The twisted madness to their methods always come across as over-the-top, and motivations always seem disproportionately thin. This book is no exception, which is too bad, because otherwise, it's quite a good read and the characters draw one in. I will definitely seek out others in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Diamond Mystery
Review: Lovesey's latest Peter Diamond mystery is, not surprisingly, good. Diamond, still recovering from his wife's death is brought in to investigate the murder of a Bath woman. As the woman was involved in the investigation of a serial killing, Diamond is gradually roped into that as well, bringing both cases to conclusion.What I liked a lot about the novel and the series is the ongoing character development we see from book to book. Ingeborg, the journalist turned policewoman we met in a previous novel is a fresh new addition, together with Hen--Diamon's counterpart from the beach town where one of the murders occured. I will strongly recommend this book to fans of police procedural series.
Rating:
Summary: Diamond dazzles
Review: Peter Diamond, still recovering from his wife's murder the year before, is brought into investigate the death of a young woman found dead on the beach after it was established the young woman was from Diamond's district of Bath. Henrietta Mallin is the original senior-investigating officer in charge of the investigation. In an intertwining mystery, a crossbow wielding serial killer known as " The Mariner" (due to leaving clues from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner") is targeting a known list of celebrities. This is the eight in the Peter Diamond series. I love how with each subsequent book, Diamond's character has developed. Bringing in Hen Mallin is a new catalyst to Diamond's personality. Diamond and Mallin, are both strong personalities must learn to work together. The story was intricately plotted with many twists along the way. My only complaint is that it dragged a bit in the middle of the book. Lovesey has written another winner.
Rating:
Summary: good fun!
Review: The House Sitter is the first novel I've read by Peter Lovesey, and I now look forward to reading more of his work. There's no need to go into the plot (it's summed up already at the top of the page), but I should tell you that the writing is engaging enough to be a real page-turner & literary enough to escape the boring realm of genre mystery. My guesses as to whom the killer might be were totally off, which is exactly what I want from a mystery; the character's(even bit players) had enough charm or creepiness to be more than one-dimensional, and there was just the right amount of humor- allowing the narrative to escape being bogged down by too much death. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: I Recommend the Peter Diamond series wholeheartedly.
Review: This book is an excellent addition to the strong Peter Diamond series. For those who like to read British procedurals written by a master of plotting and characterization, I really recommend the Peter Diamond series. He's probably the most likeable and believable detective out there in this genre, and Lovesey displays a craftsmanship in his characterizations that is unequaled. His main character keeps on getting better and better, but in this book we are also introduced to a new one and she is a winner. Her name is Hen (short for Henrietta), and she's a detective from a neighbouring town who Peter collaborates with on a murder case. She's a smart, no-nonsense, cigar-smoking woman who will brook no interference from anyone on any of her cases. The murder occurred in her patch on a beach at a seaside resort, but the victim was a Bath citizen, so Peter is brought in to assist. Somehow the two detectives find a working relationship that is effective and they develop a mutual respect for each other. All the while through this book, Lovesey maintains a tight plotline, but he also has a knack for bringing in very unique puzzles that aren't that easy to figure out. In this book the murder victim found on the beach is a woman who works as a psychological profiler for Special Branch, and Diamond and Hen can't help thinking that her murder is connected somehow to the case she has been called in to consult on. Lovesey keeps the pace going, and the intricate plot is one that certainly kept my interest. We also see a more laid-back and less curmudgeonly Peter Diamond. He has somehow mellowed as he's still been trying to get over the sudden death of his wife, and it's made him even more believable and more likeable.
Rating:
Summary: I Recommend the Peter Diamond series wholeheartedly.
Review: This book is an excellent addition to the strong Peter Diamond series. For those who like to read British procedurals written by a master of plotting and characterization, I really recommend the Peter Diamond series. He's probably the most likeable and believable detective out there in this genre, and Lovesey displays a craftsmanship in his characterizations that is unequaled. His main character keeps on getting better and better, but in this book we are also introduced to a new one and she is a winner. Her name is Hen (short for Henrietta), and she's a detective from a neighbouring town who Peter collaborates with on a murder case. She's a smart, no-nonsense, cigar-smoking woman who will brook no interference from anyone on any of her cases. The murder occurred in her patch on a beach at a seaside resort, but the victim was a Bath citizen, so Peter is brought in to assist. Somehow the two detectives find a working relationship that is effective and they develop a mutual respect for each other. All the while through this book, Lovesey maintains a tight plotline, but he also has a knack for bringing in very unique puzzles that aren't that easy to figure out. In this book the murder victim found on the beach is a woman who works as a psychological profiler for Special Branch, and Diamond and Hen can't help thinking that her murder is connected somehow to the case she has been called in to consult on. Lovesey keeps the pace going, and the intricate plot is one that certainly kept my interest. We also see a more laid-back and less curmudgeonly Peter Diamond. He has somehow mellowed as he's still been trying to get over the sudden death of his wife, and it's made him even more believable and more likeable.
Rating:
Summary: A Beach is a Great Place for Murder
Review: This is my first Peter Diamond mystery and I will certainly go for the remainder. Mr. Lovesy is a very good police procedure mystery writer. There is a nice dry with that adds to the telling of the story.
This is a double plus mystery. It starts with the murder of an identified woman on a beach. The tide takes out all the evidence and the investigation is headed by an interesting female CID. Once the body is identified, Inspector Diamond gets involved because the victim is from his turf. A serial killer then emerges and the investigations go hand-in-hand - sometimes.
Inspector Diamond is an obviously evolved character. "Hen" as she is called is new to the series and a very good character with depth and personality. The supporting characters are also believable and have their own characters. It is a compliment to Mr. Lovesy that all the characters have depth and uniqueness.
The solving of the mysteries is interesting and fun. My only criticism is that they get wrapped up so very fast. I looked and so there were only ten pages to go and the serial killer still had to be identifed and caught. It was disappointing, especially compared to the terrific build-up to that point.
A good mystery and highly recommended.
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